40 Years of Nothing
By Jason Lovelace
Key Scripture:
Numbers 13.3,26, –
1And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the
wilderness of Paran…26And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron,
and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of
Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word unto them, and unto all the
congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
Numbers 14.39-45 –
39And Moses told these sayings unto
all the children of Israel: and the people mourned
greatly. 40And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them
up into the top of the mountain, saying,” Lo, we be here, and will go up unto
the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.” 41And
Moses said, “Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it
shall not prosper. 42Go not up, for the LORD is not among you;
that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 43For the
Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the
sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be
with you.” 44But they presumed to go up unto the hill top:
nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of
the camp. 45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites
which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto
Hormah.
Numbers 16.1-3 –
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and
Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two
hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of
renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron,
and said unto them, “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are
holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up
yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Numbers 20.1,7-14 –
1Then came the children of
Israel, even the whole congregation, into the
desert Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam
died there, and was buried there. 7And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
8“Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy
brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth
his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou
shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.” 9And Moses
took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10And Moses
and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto
them, “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?”
11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock
twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and
their beasts also. 12And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron,
“Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this
congregation into the land which I have given them. 13This is
the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and
he was sanctified in them. 14And Moses sent messengers from
Kadesh unto the king of Edom, “Thus saith thy brother
Israel, ‘Thou knowest all the travail that hath
befallen us…’”
Numbers 33.36-37 –
And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin,
which is Kadesh. And they removed from Kedesh, and pitched in
Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.
Isaiah 64.6 – But
we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
all away.
Ezekiel 33.11-19 -
11Say unto them, “As I live, saith the
Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked
turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will
ye die, O house of Israel?” 12Therefore, thou son of man, say
unto the children of thy people, “The righteousness of the righteous shall not
deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the
wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his
wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in
the day that he sinneth. 13When I shall say to the righteous,
that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit
iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity
that he hath committed, he shall die for it. 14Again, when I
say unto the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die;’ if he turn from his sin, and do
that which is lawful and right; 15If the wicked restore the pledge,
give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing
iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16None of his
sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which
is lawful and right; he shall surely live. 17Yet the children
of thy people say, ‘The way of the LORD is not equal:’ but as for them, their
way is not equal. 18When the righteous turneth from his
righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. 19But
if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall live thereby.”
Have you ever done something that was
really and truly great, but nobody saw you do it? Has some great event
taken place in your life, but because it wasn’t recorded anywhere, few people
believe that you did it? Probably for everyone in the
world today, some great thing has been done, or some great event took place, but
because it wasn’t seen nor recorded by anyone, few believe that it really
happened. I wonder: how often has some great invention been created,
but because there was no way to record or write down the idea, nothing came
about? There is a story in the Bible where, for forty years, the lives,
actions, and movements for millions of people were not recorded. In fact,
an entire generation died off and there is no record of where these people were
buried, how they died, nor any other information. Another question for you
today: could this happen with God? Could the lives of people be
totally forgotten because the records of them are totally erased? What
about your life? Will your life be remembered or forgotten?
The Sad Story of the Generation
that Left Egypt
If you’ve been around a Christian church
for any length of time, perhaps you have heard the story of the Exodus of the
Children of Israel from Egypt. God
used Moses and his brother Aaron to help the Israelites to come out of slavery
in Egypt, punishing
Egypt
and Pharaoh with ten plagues, wondrous miracles that enabled the Israelites to
freely leave. The trip from Egypt to what is today Israel probably
took no more than a year or two. With millions of people following Moses
out, they very likely moved somewhat slowly through the area that is today
called the Sinai Peninsula. Along the
way, God provided the Israelites with food, water, and protection against
enemies through many miracles. The Israelites literally saw on a daily basis
the miracles of God performed right in front of them. It should have been
enough to make them very strong in their faith. However, when they reached
Canaan, sent out spies, and heard the evil report from ten of the twelve spies
that were sent out, the people of Israel lost their faith. Even
though Moses, Caleb, and Joshua begged the people to remain close to God and to
trust him, they refused. They even threatened to kill Caleb and Joshua.
Because of this, the generation that came out of
Egypt
was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land. These people had watched
God literally destroy the most powerful nation on Earth at that time for them to
be able to be free. They had seen God provide them with food and water
every day of their journey. They had also seen God defend them against
attacks by enemies that sought to destroy them. Again, all of this should
have been enough to make them faithful and strong. In the end, they were
not, and because of their lack of faith, they could not go into the land God had
promised to them through Abraham. They were also a generation that was not
remembered, their lives for the next forty years left unrecorded.
Four Events Before Vanishing
Before they were ordered by God to go
into the wilderness, there were four events that happened:
(1.) The Israelites tried to Enter
the Promised Land without God – In Numbers 14, the closing
verses tell about how the Israelites – after hearing that God had refused them
entry into Canaan and that they were to wander for forty years – changed their
minds and tried to enter Canaan anyway. The result was humiliation and
defeat. Anytime we try to do something without God – especially when he
has told us to do something else – will end this way.
(2.) Rebellion Against Moses
– In Numbers 16, we see another tragic story. A group of men challenged
the Authority of Moses, and, indirectly, of God. Wanting to return to
Egypt
to where they thought life was better, a great number of people appointed
another leader. The sad result was that a great earthquake took place,
swallowing up the rebellious people and their leaders. Again, a
humiliating failure and end to some of the people because they were without God.
(3.) Miriam, the Sister of Aaron and
Moses, Died – The very first verse of Numbers 20 states that
Miriam died. Unlike Moses and Aaron, who lived to be older than 100 years,
Miriam died in her 80s. Now why did this happen? We don’t know the
cause nor reason for her passing, but it is likely that God wanted to spare
Miriam the pain of seeing so many pass away in the wilderness. When we
rebel and sin against God, it is not only ourselves that pay a price, but others
also, including people that we love and look up to.
(4.) Moses and Aaron Sinned, and were
refused entry into the Promised Land – In the 2nd through the
13th verses of Numbers 20, we see that Moses and Aaron chose to disobey God.
Though the people were given water, God pronounced his judgment against Aaron
and Moses, and they, though living to be more than 120 years old, died on the
borders of the Promised Land. Our rebellion and sin against God oft
influence the leaders we follow, and can even cause them to stumble.
Do you see the pattern here?
Rebellion against God is a serious thing! Sin affects more than just the
person who is doing it! There are great upheavals in life when someone is
guilty of sin. But this, really, isn’t the worst part.
The Sound of Silence
Can you think of a great celebrity,
government person, or historical figure who made a terrible mistake? What
did that person do? How is that person remembered today? In the USA, there was a baseball player
named Darryl Strawberry. Darryl Strawberry was one of the most talented
players in the history of American Baseball. He was a great hitter.
He was so fast that he could steal any base and rarely be tagged out.
Darryl Strawberry was so good that he helped his team, the New York Mets, win a
world series. However, just when Darryl Strawberry’s career was taking
off, a terrible thing happened: he was found by police with illegal drugs.
After that came the upheavals in his life. Very similarly to the
Israelites, Strawberry tried to continue playing baseball, but failed miserably.
He was released from the Mets, and was picked up by a few other teams, but his
salary was cut, his playing began to get worse, and later, he went to prison.
Darryl Strawberry is not remembered today, and after his first drug arrest, his
career was largely forgotten. Today, very few people know the name “Darryl
Strawberry”. The silence surrounding Strawberry’s career is deafening and
terribly tragic. The same thing happened to the Israelites. Because
they rebelled against God, their wanderings for 40 years are not recorded.
Nobody knows what happened to that generation of Israelites after Moses and
Aaron sinned because their forty years in the wilderness is not recorded.
The only thing we know from the Bible is that each and every one of them died.
The only two from the generation that left Egypt that were
still alive were Caleb and Joshua. Everyone else – possibly as many as two
million people – died in the wilderness. They died in anonymity, they died
forgotten, and they died without God’s grace and without ever entering the
Promised Land.
The Bad News
Does this tragic story of the Israelites
and their 40 Years of Invisibility match your life? Are you working,
working, and working, hoping that at the end of your life here on earth, God
will see your works and welcome you into heaven? The bad news is that, all
of your work without Jesus Christ in your life means that you are basically
following the same path that the Children of Israel followed after they rebelled
against God in Numbers 13. Though you may have all the good works in the
world, the Bible says that they will be like the actions of these Israelites:
they will neither be remembered nor really spoken of. In fact, Isaiah 64
states that all of our good works without Jesus Christ are really like dirty
laundry in the eyes of God. Ezekiel also says that if we have sin in our
lives that God will not recognize any good works that we do until the sin is
dealt with. In other words, without God, we are like the Israelites of
Numbers 13-20: we are wandering around in a wilderness of sin that will
eventually kill us and leave us without God’s Promises nor will we ever see a
minute in his Promised Land. Friends, that’s the bad news. Does this
describe you?
The Good News
The Good News is that because of Jesus
Christ, we can be like Caleb and Joshua. You see, in Numbers 13, when the
other spies were giving a terribly discouraging report about the Promised Land,
Caleb and Joshua were carrying the fruit of the land, giving a good report.
When the other spies were complaining of the size of the Giants, Caleb and
Joshua were praising God for being bigger than those giants! When the
others were crying about the size of the walled cities in the Promised Land,
Caleb and Joshua believed that those cities were already defeated and taken!
Even in the face of being stoned to death, Joshua and Caleb remained faithful to
God. When everyone else around him was speaking of death, destruction, and
disaster for the Israelites, Caleb and Joshua were speaking of how God would
help them overcome. How was this possible? Caleb and Joshua were
faithful because of Whom was living in their hearts. They had trusted God
with their eternity, and because of that, they saw how great and powerful God
was instead of seeing how big and bad the giants, the cities, and their enemies
were. The good news for us today is that we can have that same Spirit that
Caleb and Joshua had. We can look at difficult circumstances, hard
situations, and gloomy futures the same way that Caleb and Joshua saw the
Promised Land. If we choose to have Jesus Christ on the inside, and trust
him wholeheartedly, we, too, can have that same attitude. Paul writes in
his letters that the Peace of Jesus Christ passes all understanding. Even
when the world around you is flying apart like a haystack in a typhoon, if you
have Jesus Christ on the inside, you will have peace.
How Do You Want to be Remembered?
How do you want to be remembered?
Do you want to be remembered like the Israelites that wandered are remembered?
Do you want to be forever remembered as someone who rejected the Promised Land
and wandered without memory for forty years? Do you want to have your life
recorded for the good things you did, or to have your memory and good works look
like dirty laundry. The way that the Wandering Israelites and the way
Caleb and Joshua are remembered in the Bible are as different as night and day.
While the their kinsmen were dying off with no record of where they fell, where
they were buried, or anything else that happened, Caleb and Joshua were
remembered for leading the next generation into the Promised Land. In
fact, Caleb and Joshua are remembered in the Bible as having received special
promises from God because they chose to trust in God! God directly spoke
his promises to Caleb and Joshua in Numbers 14, and forty years later, they came
to pass: Caleb and Joshua led the next generation into the Promised Land,
and lived to enjoy it! If we choose to trust in God, if we choose to
believe he is greater still, we, too, will receive his special promises!
Conclusion – Forty Years of
Nothing or an Eternity of Joy?
In conclusion, let me ask again:
how do you want to be remembered? When people in ages and years to come
think of you, will they think of you the same way the First Generation out of
Egypt is remembered? Will they instead remember you as a person who chose
to remain faithful to God, even when everyone else was going the other way?
Do you want forty years of nothing, or an eternity of plenty? The
significance of Numbers 20.13-14, and Numbers 33.36-37 is what is not there!
In those two passages, there is a forty year gap. Do you want four decades
of being lost to the record of history, or do you want an eternity where God
himself remembers your faithfulness to him? The choice is yours!
Trust Jesus Christ today!
Prayer –
Father, we thank you for this good and wonderful day! Thank you for
everyone who has come and received this message today! Help us all, Lord,
to remember that without you, we get twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years of
nothing. With you, though, we receive the promise of eternal life!
We pray, Father, for each and every person who encounters this message, that
they will make the right choice! Thank you again for this day, and for
this chance to receive this message from you! Go with us all this week,
Father, and we pray a special blessing on all here today, in Jesus’ Name, Amen!
Verse to Remember:
“Only rebel not ye against the LORD,
neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their
defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.”
– Numbers 14.9